


the one with the blackout

by raaindocx



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: F/M, Humor, Light Angst, Pining, friendsau
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 13:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19746424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raaindocx/pseuds/raaindocx
Summary: A power outage takes over New York City, trapping two strangers, Peter Parker and Michelle Jones, alone in a bank.or; during a city-wide blackout, Peter Parker embarrassingly struggles to make conversation with the prettiest girl on his college campus.





	the one with the blackout

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by s1 e7 of Friends: The One with the Blackout  
> this is my first ever fic, so any and all tips are welcome ;)  
> Italics indicate their (mainly Peter’s) thoughts.

Peter Parker had walked into Emerson Bank and went straight to the ATM machine to make a deposit. He was supposed to be in and out. Just a minute or two. 

In a few moments, he has completed his transaction and was making his way towards the automatic doors. 

But then, the lights shut down.“What-?” A few seconds later, a backup generator kicked the lights back on, but when Peter tried the doors, they were glued shut. 

“Oh, you have got to be ki-“ before he could finish expressing his annoyance, he made eye contact with the only other person in the room. A beautiful woman around his age that he’s sworn he’s seen before. 

_ Oh man! It’s her!  _ He thinks to himself, excited.  _ She was in my Arts History class. Everyone called her the prettiest girl on campus, but she was too quiet and always had her nose in a book. Something-jones? Mary jones? No, that’s not it _ . 

Meanwhile, the familiar girl was raising her phone in the air and walking around, searching for a signal. 

The girl moved her cell phone to her ear, “hey, Betty, it’s MJ.” 

_ Okay, it’s definitely an ‘m.’ Maybe it is ‘Mary.’ Hm. It just doesn’t sound right.  _ Peter thinks back to the class he took last spring. He had always admired this girl from afar because she was brilliant and always knew the answers to all of the questions. (And she’s also the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen, but he hasn’t admitted that to himself yet.) 

_ Michelle! Michelle Jones. Oh man! I am trapped in an ATM vestibule with Michelle Jones. Is it a vestibule? Maybe it’s an atrium.  _ He tilted his head to the side, squinting,  _ Oh yeah, that is the part to focus on, you idiot.  _

“Yeah, I’m fine. I can’t believe the first time I decide to not put a book in my bag, this happens.” MJ spoke to the person on the other side of the cell, “I’m stuck at the bank in an ATM vestibule.” 

_ If Michelle says its a “vestibule,” then it’s a vestibule.  _ Peter nodded to himself. 

“Uh,” MJ glanced around and Peter looked away immediately to pretend as if he weren’t creepily staring at her, “no, I’m not alone.” She turned to face the wall again, “I dunno. Some guy.” 

_ Oh! “Some guy.” I am ‘some guy.’ “Hey, Michelle, I saw you with some guy last night.” “Yes, he was some guy.”  _ Distracted by his fantasies, Peter had been strolling towards MJ. He looked up and noticed that she had ended her call and was eyeing him as if he were a weirdo. He turned around and strolled back to his corner, mentally beating himself up. 

Peter checked his watch,  _ alright, alright, alright, it’s been 14 and a half minutes and you still haven’t said one word to her.  _ He glanced over to MJ. She had taken over the small desk that came from the wall and was fidgeting with a pen. 

_ Come on, man!  _ He motivated himself.  _ Do something! Nod. Or smile? Just make some type of contact and smile!  _ He began to smile at her aimlessly, waiting for him to look at her. 

She turned away from her pen and glanced at him. When she’d noticed that he was smiling at her, she returned a small one. 

_ There you go. _ Still smiling. Too much. 

MJ’s face became scrunched up and she turned away quickly, back to her desk. 

_ Agh, way to go, idiot, you’re scaring her!  _

She turned back towards him, “Uhm, did you wanna call somebody?” MJ offered her cell phone. 

_ Yeah, about all the guys I went to high school with,  _ he thought sarcastically. As if he were contemplating, he looked around and slightly scratched his face. “Yeah, thanks.” He took a couple steps forward and accepted the offer. 

Peter immediately dialed his best friend’s number. 

“Hello?” There was a boy’s voice on the other line. 

“Hey, it’s me.” Peter said, hurriedly. 

“It’s Peter.” A muffled voice stated to the others in the room. “You good? You’re not- like- dying, are you?” 

“No, I’m fine.” For the next part, he hid his face from MJ and began to mumble quietly, “om trabbed inan AY THE EM vesthiboole wit mitchell jownes.” 

“What? Speak normally, loser.” The guy said on the phone. 

Peter repeated himself, still mumbling, “om trabbed inan AY THE EM vesthiboole wit mitchell jownes.” At this point, MJ was wondering who the hell this guy is and turned towards him to see if he was okay. 

“I have no idea what you’re saying, dude.” 

“Put Ned on the phone! Why’re answer his calls anyway?” He gave up trying to explain the situation to Flash. 

A few seconds later, a new voice was on the call, “what’s up, bro?” 

Peter mumbled again, “om trabbed inan AY THE EM vesthiboole wit MITCHELL JOWNES.” 

“Oh no way!” The voice was muffled again as Ned spoke to the rest of the room, “He’s trapped in an ATM vestibule with Michelle Jones!” Another muffled voice in the room said, “woah, she’s like the hottest girl on campus.” 

Ned was back on the phone, “Peter, Peter, listen,” He mumbled loudly into the phone, incoherent to everyone else in the world, but Peter. . 

“Dude! Keep it PG!” Peter responded, whisper yelling into the phone. He hung up and handed the phone back to MJ, “thanks,” he said shyly. 

“No problem,” she nodded back. 

That was their last interaction for a few minutes. 

“You want some gum?” MJ asked. She didn’t mind the awkward silence between them, but she knew it was killing him. She’s seen Peter around campus, he’s one of those extremely outgoing college guys. They can never sit still. 

“Is it sugarless?” Peter asked. 

MJ looked confused, “no, it’s not.” 

“Oh, then, no thanks.”  _ what the hell was that?  _ He questioned himself. 

MJ turned her back towards him again. 

_ Okay, mental note: if Michelle Jones offers you gum, you take it! If she offers you mangled animal carcass, you take it! But she probably wouldn’t. She doesn’t seem like the type.  _ Peter wondered why he was like this.  _ Oh enough already, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you’re blowing it! _

“On second thought, gum would be perfection.” 

MJ reached into her bag. 

_ “Gum would be perfection?”  _ He took the gum out of her hand, forgetting to thank her because he was thinking about all of the other ways he could have accepted the gum.  _ “Gum would be perfection? You could’ve said “gum would be nice,” or “I’ll have a stick.” But no, no, no, no. For you, gum is perfection.  _ He thought to himself,  _ I am so bad at this!  _ He conceded onto the small desk, putting his head in his arms. 

The next few minutes are full of silence. 

_ Should I blow a bubble? Maybe she’ll find it charming. And maybe she won’t see how bad I’m panicking right now. Here we go.  _

Peter glanced to make sure MJ was looking and got ready to blow the bubble. But it shot clear out of his mouth and onto the small desk.  _ Idiot! _ He turned slightly, wincing at how bad he messed it up. 

MJ couldn’t help but smile. She had noticed how badly he wanted to make conversation with her and how much he was struggling with it. MJ just wants to see how long it will take for him to talk to her. 

She hadn’t noticed Peter slyly grab his lob of gum and put it back into his mouth, only it wasn’t his gum. 

_ Dude, this is not your gum! Oh man, I am chewing someone else’s gum!  _ MJ noticed how much more distraught he became, all of a sudden. He gagged.  _ And now you’re choking!  _ He coughed, and gagged some more. 

“Are you okay?” MJ asked, leaning forward. Peter responded with two thumbs up. “No you’re not, you’re choking.” She walked over to him quickly and wrapped her arms around his stomach to begin the heimlich maneuver. The gum shot out from Peter’s throat. He groaned. “There, all better.” She said, patting his arm. 

“Ah, thank you. That was-” He was blanking, “that was-” He couldn’t think of anything to say. 

MJ completed the sentence for him, “perfection?” She smiled. 

Peter squinted, chuckling and nodding nervously. 

“I’m Peter, by the way.” He held his hand out. 

“Michelle,” she accepted the handshake and sat back down on the floor where she was. 

Peter mustered up all of the courage he had to sit next to her and just start talking.  _ Once you start talking, it’ll be smooth sailing from there. Come on, Peter. You got this. _

He sat down near her, leaving a foot and some between them. Peter opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He closed his mouth and tilted his head to the side.  _ You don’t got this.  _

“You’re not very good at this, are you?” Michelle stated, plainly. 

Peter groaned, “So it is obvious?” MJ nodded. “I’m sorry,” he chuckled nervously, “It’s just- it’s not every day I get trapped in an ATM vestibule with a beautiful girl. I just feel like I’m really embarrassing myself and I haven’t even said a complete sentence to you.” He rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans. 

“Mmm.” MJ was thinking, “that was an okay start.” 

Peter smiled, silently applauding himself for saying it, even though he didn’t realize it. 

They acknowledged that they go to the same school together and continued the conversation from there. 

An hour later, they were facing each other, cracking jokes, laughing and talking. 

Michelle had realized that this was the most she had opened up to someone and it was in the span of an hour to a complete stranger. (he did go to her college, but she’s never even said two words to him.) 

Peter had just made a clever quip and was laughing uncontrollably at it. 

Normally, if it were anybody else MJ would be thinking,  _ why the hell is this guy laughing so hard at his own joke? _ MJ chortled at the boy hitting the floor from laughing so hard at his own joke. Now, she’s thinking that  _ he’s kind of… cute? What the- _

Just then- there was a loud whirring, indicating that the power was back on. Peter got up and tried the doors. They worked. 

“I gotta say, I was kinda hoping they wouldn’t open.” Peter admitted. 

_ Me too.  _ Michelle thought as she smiled at him. She got up, grabbed her bag and walked towards him, “thanks, Peter. This was a… _ (fun) _ decent blackout.” she shrugged. 

“Yeah. Maybe, I’ll see you around?” He asked for reassurance. 

“Maybe.” She teased and walked towards the door. 

“Michelle, wait-” He stopped her by the arm. 

MJ looked at his hand and back up at him. This caused Peter to move his hand down. 

“Could I-maybe-uh-have your phone number?” He scratched the back of his neck. 

She tilted her head to the side, as if she were thinking about whether or not she should give it. After a few more seconds, she reached into her bag for a pen. Michelle grabbed his hand and wrote her phone number on it, “So you don’t lose it.” She smiled and closed the pen. 

A huge smile beamed across his face.

MJ walked out of the bank and Peter looked at the security camera. 

“Hi, I don’t know if you got any that, but my name is Peter Parker, account number 95277. And if you did, I would really appreciate it if I could have the tape.” He chuckled, as he traced a rectangle with his hands. 


End file.
